Too late to leave unharmed
by screepie
Summary: AU multi-chapter. She's confortable with her routine, she doesn't dream of anything else. She thought she knew herself, until one day she doesn't. Will she selfishly risk the heart of her loved ones just for her own?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N****:** so, after yesterday's overload of Levony feelings I felt so bad I had to compensate with some Doccubus.

This is my first english story (because I couldn't write lost girl in any other language) so please, I have no beta, take all the faults on me, lemme know if it's so bad I shouldn't even do it.

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_The Morrigan_.  
Not by far her favourite night club, she had barely set foot in it a dozen times in 5 years, but this time Casey managed to convince her with her usual lively and hard-handed behavior and practically dragged her along beyond the door and in the middle of the shining-light grinding-bodies chaos that for an instant seemed to suffocate her. And so there she was, resigned to all of this for tonight. On the square, it wasn't like she had a favourite club at all. On the contrary, Lauren Lewis never considered herself like a 'soul of the night'; or better: she definitely was an extremely nightly person, just not of the let's-drink-our-butt-out/dance-and-party-all-night kind; her long and never ending night were mostly spent at the hospital on duty or chasing whatever new research project she had put her mind up to.

Nevertheless, once in a while nights like this were essential, vital, especially after the week that had just gone by.  
Lauren was in an extremely need of letting go of the build-up tension, she felt almost a primal urge pushing her to pour it out but she wasn't willing to acknowledge it; she had tried, once again, to shut it all off and store it in that box in the far end of her mind. Lucky her, Casey made no excuses facing the elephant in the room and she had sensed it the moment her eyes had landed on the bowed and stiff figure of her friend when they had met for breakfast, this morning.  
"You're going out with me tonight, no lame justifications" she had ordered with a flaming glance but a sparkling smile, taking leave to go to work without giving her time to process the imposition and refuse, making her spend the whole day in the desperate attempt to reach her and talk to her and managing to overlook till the last text and then showing up the night at her doorstep with a giant sly smile and tear her out of the reassuring warmth of her house.

"This place is all but relaxing Case, I do not understand how you could think of proving your theory by bringing me here!" Instead of relaxing, this whole environment only pushed her to sink deeper in herself while keeping her on edge, as if anytime somebody could come up behind her and draw a knife at her throat.  
But Casey was of a totally different opinion, dragging her along through the glistering crowd to the bar, pushing up to the first and only still free stool and leaving her stand on her two feet.  
"Honey, you gotta learn to let loose! What that wood-piece-of-a-body-of-yours needs is some serious physical relief – iykwim – ad this is without any doubt the place for you tonight! I can almost smell the sex scent spilling out of this rabble's heads!"  
Leaning back on the counter with the elbows Lauren rolled her eyes at the not so subtle way of putting things of her best friend. "Case, it's not an empirical possibility to be able to discern the 'smell of sex' flowing from the mind of any individual, no matter how intensely they could have been thinking of it" she objected while her friend motioned a weird hand sign to the bartender that later Lauren discovered meaning a full trail of shots for the two of them.  
After so much time together Lauren was used to her way of expressing things still she couldn't help to always question what she would say as much as Casey couldn't go without saying them; it was just how they were. They had known each other for 13 years now and in those 13 years they had shared any and every thing that could be shared and even more. Her, Casey and Ryan. The relentless trio.  
The thought of Ryan drew an unconscious smile to her lips. She wondered what could he have been doing in that moment; lately he was always a little distant and no more he did harass her with his constant calls.  
Ryan was her best friend in the world, since that first year at the university; it was with him that Lauren had spent most of her freshman's sleepless nights, sprawled on the couch submerged in books and flying note sheets in 4 different colored paper marks in the attempt to pass their next exam, with him that she had shared the ups of the parties and the downs of the hangovers, with him that she had gone through the endless shifts of the internship, keeping each other up through slaps in the face and sudden cold showers.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you're free to not believe me!" she showed away the subject to move on and dump a light nectar shot glass in her hand, taking one for herself. "Cheers!" she spurred and on three they took them to the lips and bolted them down in one gulp that burned in their throats down their stomachs. "All right! Another one!" again a shot was showed in her hand and again Lauren had to shut her good sense that was yelling at her that this wasn't going to end well. Last time she woke up to an online video of her dancing half naked on a table in the kitchen of the hospital and it hadn't been at all not embarrassing nor easy to put behind. The thought made her shiver. "Case! Whatever happens promise me to keep me away from the hospital!"  
"Count on me, sister!" but it was clear to everybody and Lauren that as shots were going to go down Casey would be out even before she was.  
"Soo! What about that one over there?" over the years Casey had done of picking up the guy for Lauren her most enjoyable game.  
"Too tall, the proportions wouldn't correspond, it would become uncomfortable" she objected instantly, keeping on iperanalising every single thing.  
"Ok" Casey did a full twirl on her stool making a funny cheerful sound "That one!" she conspiratorially pointed a man in his thirties at the other end of the bar, a men with a bowling ball instead of a head.  
"C, I have to tell you, don't get upset but tonight you seem to have lost your mojo!" she mocked her giving her a fake comforting tap on the shoulder.  
"It's not my fault if it doesn't seem to be a decent one in here!" the younger one defended herself raising her hands in defeat.  
Lauren let her eyes wander all around and almost agreed with her friend. It wasn't as if she required the perfect symmetry and a fatal attraction but there had to be at least some hint of attraction, right?  
She shrugged and the two of them kept talking and throw shots for another half hour until Lauren got aware of her need to go to the bathroom.  
"C give me 20sec, hold the spot!" she yelled above the music pointing to the restroom.  
"Wait!" she replied with wide eyes, completely gone "You're going to have a quickie in the bath with that dude who's been ogling you for hours!?"  
"What dude?" there was no dude, not one so hot to persuade her into considering a quickie in a public toilet, at least.  
"You know the dude! Admit it!"  
Carefully considering the state of sobriety of her friend, Lauren decided to play along to escape faster. "Ok, busted, can I go now?"  
"DEFINITELY! Isn't this the whole point of the evening?" then she literally pushed her away so that Lauren almost tripped, starting to laugh without even knowing why.  
"Going!" and so she leaved, winking at the other woman who was watching her VERY pleased with herself.  
"Ah! And Laur…" she heard been called back and turned again "…I hope for you sake that's gonna take more than 20sec!" and they both laughed again.  
When she finally reached the bathroom she hadn't still stopped smiling. She had to be honest, it wasn't that bad to spend a night this way, she surely felt a lot lighter and happier after a few drinks and laughs.  
Looking at herself in the mirror Lauren saw a reflex of herself she hadn't seen in a long time: slightly messy hair, shiny eyes and a little smile, flushed cheeks and that trace of sweat just above her hairline. It was a little too hot in there, given the mob and drinks. She opened the faucet and let the cold water run on her wrists in the hope of cooling down, thinking that tomorrow she'd have to thank Casey. Or she could have done it as soon as she got back to her but the last bit of good sense told her to wait for a more sober moment, one in which Casey wouldn't believe she was going to have sex with a complete stranger in a club toilet; it wasn't the time to pull those stunts anymore. Furthermore the toilets were maybe the most unhygienic place that could be to do something like that. Even if, to say the truth, for a second she had really hoped in a charming stranger waiting for her in that narrow space, a pair of arms to hold her tight and a warm body to melt into.  
Shivering she pulled the hands out of the stream and moved them to her flushed cheeks and neck.  
It had been a long time since she last had that kind of contact and in that moment, thinking of it, she could feel all the loss she didn't realize she was feeling. Lauren trusted that one day not too far along she would finally find someone to share her life with, someone for whom it would be worth to leave work unfinished and all the rest and come back home to at night.  
Over the years she had had relationships, of course, some even rather important, but work had always come first and the other could never put up with being second. From time to time she came to think that the problem was hers, that she had something wrong, but Ryan kept telling her she was wrong every time. But Ryan was biased, she was his best friend and he could never accuse her of anything. He didn't even when she broke up with him, after months of a relationship that was never going anywhere. She loved Ryan, with all her heart and she could never picture a life without him in it, but her love was the type of love you feel for a brother and that time together proved it. They were good together but they weren't really in love, something was missing. She knew it and he had too, so they moved back to being just friends. Ironically, the one who took it worst had been Casey, seeing her chance of being legally part of the same family thrown away.  
Ryan and Casey were cousins, this was how the two of them met, because Casey had idolized Ryan and followed him everywhere.  
A smile crept on her lips as Lauren was going through those first times of all the three of them together. Casey and Ryan grew up together but they could have never been more different, one the opposite of the other but together they completed each other.

Finally deciding to leave the past in the past, Lauren shook her head and blinked, trying to take a hold on reality. The alcohol in her system was maybe too much; or maybe too not enough. She got out of the bathroom and was hit by the deafening noise and darker blinking lights that made impossible to distinguish anything. Trying to orientate she proceeded to the bar that was in a slightly less loud area, stumbling in a couple of people in the process. Smiling, making a bee line toward her friend who had now her back turned to her, she threw herself at her, hugging her from behind and kissing her cheek loudly. "I'm back, baby!"  
It didn't took her long to realize something was off, was it the unknown smell or the different consistency under her palms, perhaps the sudden rigidity as she touched her, the fact is when she opened her eyes the face that stood before her was the a wrong one. It was her turn to go still. For a moment or more Lauren found herself unable to move, petrified, her entire body pressed to the back of a perfect stranger, the arms still tight around her neck and the face too close to hers who at that point had turned around enough to confront her. The two women stared at each other wide eyes for a couple of seconds, pupils completely dilated in the dim light to try and give a face to the intruder.  
Finally, getting a hold on herself, as she had swooped in on her Lauren pulled back, bowing her head and apologizing a hundred times per second, her hand flying back and forth in every direction. "Oh God, sorry, sorry, sorry! I confused you with my friend, it's so dark in here and the alcohol must have clouded my brain if I didn't check it actually was my friend before so inappropriately throwing myself to her!"  
The woman blinked a few times and then tried to catch and still the roaming hands and putting them back at her sides. Lauren suddenly stopped rambling and raised her head to look at her embarrassed, the blood throbbing in her head so fast she could now barely hear the music.  
"Relax, it's nothing, really" she tried to reassure her "It happens".  
The comforting tone and sincere yet slightly amused smile of the brunette in front of her persuaded Lauren to take a deep breath to try to calm down a little and lessen the pink on her cheeks that by then should have been at the highest levels ever.  
"I'm Bo" she offered her hand and Lauren shook it with a little of uncertainty. "Lauren" now calmer she let slip a smile too. "Sorry again, I'm not usually like that, I was just caught up in the moment I guess"  
Bo grinned turning back to the bar and starting to sip at her drink by the straw, apparently not paying her anymore attention, so that Lauren thought that was her cue to leave.  
"Well, it comforts me that you're not just a weirdo who hands out hugs to strangers!" Lauren started to blush again and brought her hands deep in her lab coat pockets to comfort, except she wasn't wearing her lab coat at that moment so she just ended up rubbing them on her pants. "You want one?" the question forced her to raise her gaze into deep chocolate pools. "eh?" she mumbled puzzled and Bo pointed to the extra glass on the counter next to hers "my friend seems to be blowing me off so that's extra" she explained.  
Lauren stared at the undiscernible colored glass for a moment. She wasn't in the mood to drink anymore and mixing alcohol wasn't a great idea, she as a doctor had to know that, yet her mouth was faster to accept before her brain could remind her.  
Bo smiled at her and Lauren took place in the stool next to her desperately scanning the room for Casey, "It seems I lost mine too" she pointed out as she raised her glass to Bo who made it clink together with hers.  
Lauren turned on the side towards Bo resting her elbow on the counter and the face on her palm, getting a load of the other woman. Bo was beyond any doubt one of those people who could have persuaded her into that quickie in the bathroom. Everything about her screamed a languid silent invite, from the perfect curves of her hips to the too deep cut of her top; she was completely dressed in black, Lauren noticed, or anyway a very dark color and probably, from the way the fabric twinkled under the light every so often, it had to be leather. She thought it gave her a predatory look, mischievous, something that screamed 'DANGER DANGER' from the distance but at the same time Lauren believed the woman had to be the exact opposite of that because when she looked her in the face again she saw one of the most sincere and innocent expressions she had ever seen on anyone. A nonsense.  
This Bo intrigued her, she couldn't deny it.  
"You came here often?" Lauren asked the first stupid thing that came to mind and cursed not being sober enough to have sufficient control not to show how socially awkward she was.  
"Quite. My friend, Kenzi, she loves it. And generally it's hard to deny her something so…" with a motion of her hand she pointed at herself obviously. "What about you? I've never seen you before"  
"Yeah, sure enough, I don't come here often, I'm afraid my work takes a lot of my time so generally I'm too tired to do anything" omitting that she herself wore her body out working.  
"Where do you work?"  
"At the hospital. I'm a doctor"  
"wow" Bo smiled enthusiastically "You should give me your number" she offered nonchalantly with a sparkle in her gaze.  
Lauren's eyes grew wide in surprise and just then Bo realized how what she had said could sound. "I mean, you know how it is, it's always good to have a doctor number in your book" she clarified.  
"Ah, yeah, sure." Lauren mumbled feeling her pockets for a pen or something.  
Bo laughed watching her get all worked up and once again reached her hands to stop the blonde's. "Are you always so…so…" Bo had a hard time finding the words.  
"Clumsy?" Lauren offered.  
"No!" Bo hurried to deny. "So…" again her voice trailed off, unsure if to continue. Lauren eyed her curiously.  
"So cute?" she finally got it out with a shrug.  
Lauren frowned and took a step back surprised. "Cute? Me? I'd rather say embarrassing!" and laughed to hide the new flushing of her face.  
Lucky for her – or everlasting bad luck, not sure – that was the moment Casey decided to show up again. "Laur!" she yelled at her for the third time to catch her attention. "I've looked for you everywhere! Where were you gone!"  
"Where were YOU gone! I told you to hold the spot!" she kindly scolded her getting up to wrap her in a hug.  
"I thought I couldn't be twiddling my thumbs while my friend banged a hottie in the toilet!" she shouted slurring the words. Lauren tried too late to put her hand on her mouth to prevent her to say it and glanced at Bo hoping she hadn't heard; but from the look of the brunette she realized immediately it was a lost cause and for the hundredth time she got back to blushing. "She… doesn't know what she's saying, she's smashed!" she tried to recover but Bo burst into laughing. "Well, since you found your friend I'll get out of the way" she stood up and put on the jacket Lauren didn't knew where she had had it.  
"No, look, if you want to stay we'll be more than happy!" Lauren blurted out quickly while Casey was mumbling "Who the hell is that?" earning a sudden nudge from her friend.  
Bo smiled, not missing the exchange. "Thanks, but given that I don't think Kenzi will ever show up I'll just go and say hi to my boyfriend. It was very nice to meet you, Lauren"  
Shit. She had a boyfriend.  
Bo slid her hand on her arm in goodbye giving a light squeeze and with another smile she took off, leaving the breathless answer unheard.  
"The pleasure's all mine, Bo."


	2. Chapter 2

She loved night shifts. If she could, she would be here between these pale white walls night after night, every night.  
She was now so used to stay up until morning that it didn't even bother her anymore.  
What she most enjoyed of them was that at this time they only brought in emergencies, big traumas dripping blood and the most unexpected things that happen in the darkest hours.  
She despised routine. She loved the rush, the adrenaline, the feeling of pressure into analyzing and pondering the priorities, she loved let her reasonable mind take full control of her body and make her defeat time and save a life. It was how she didn't even sense the night go by, buried in her deep trance until it was safe and she could start breathing normally again, fully satisfied by yet another success.  
Tonight was calm, too calm really, given she was in the ER, and as they say after the quiet always comes the storm. But that was just a say, Lauren knew that most of the times it just stays quite the same, unless it's weekend night. Today's Monday, so there was a good chance she could get a hold of the results of her last project. She also loved quiet nights like this because no one would disturb her with her researches.

Lauren checked her buzzer once again, as if thinking of it would obviously bring the opposite. Instead it was still plane. She shrugged a sigh of relief ad decided on burying herself in her office.  
She slid past the nurse station where a couple of them were chatting with Ronald, the other on call doctor tonight, informing them where they would find her if they needed her. Ronald was a good doctor, it reassured her that she wasn't just being irresponsible flying the scene like this. Moreover, her office was just down the hall, it wouldn't take more than 2 minutes to come back, she just had to walk to the other side of the main ER room as she was right now.  
As she passed through them, there were only a couple or few more patients and no one in apparent immediate danger; just cramps, sprains and cuts.  
Speaking of cuts, she suddenly stopped as her eye caught a glimpse of something familiar in the far row of beds. She turned around and tried to focus on the figure peeking out of the half pulled curtain. Recognition flicked her from some weeks ago. She smiled an amused smile and drew closer to the new outpatient, slightly pulling the curtain aside to make herself known to the other person, now half-laying on the bed with closed eyes, the right arm outstretched on a stool with a just now sutured red mark going all the way through the inside of the forearm.  
"And here I thought I saw someone I knew" she declared seeing that she was facing the other side. The woman on the bed seemed to frown slightly before turning to her, her eyes growing conscious.  
"Hi" she whispered aloud, wincing but smiling.  
"Hey" she whispered back.  
Bo was atop of the covers and this time, in the fluorescent light of the ambulatory, Lauren could most certainly say she was completely leather-clad head to toe. And she looked definitely hot, maybe even more than the first time she saw her. But then again, it was kind of dark back then. Lauren ogled her a second, surprising herself at the fluttering feeling it gave her.  
Bo moved a little, her legs rubbing together while she tried to straighten up against the headboard, and Lauren forced her focus away of that black shiny fabric.  
She found she really liked leather. Did she wear it all the time? How could someone be comfortable in those things 24/h, and how could someone fit them so well?  
Lauren shook her head that was going to take a dangerous road and instead reciprocated the warm smile before taking another step forward.  
"So, you work here" Bo fidgeted regardless the pain she had to be in.  
"Apparently so. And you're been patched up, I see" she nudged to the arm still numb at the other side of the bed. "What happened? Got in an argument with a chainsaw?" she joked and Bo chucked.  
"Sort of, except it was a sword" she confessed.  
"Sword as in a very sharp double-bladed metal stick?" Lauren inquired astonished, curiosity furrowing both her brows.  
"That kind of stick, yes." She smirked "My friend Kenzi panicked and it ended up swinging into my arm" she explained and shrugged.  
"Didn't your mama teach you non to play with sharp objects?" Lauren joked, leaning on the emergency-cart, arms folded loosely below her chest.  
"A little danger always spices life up a bit" Bo blinked and then her face turned sober "Besides I kind of need them for my work"  
"That is…" Lauren trailed off, slightly pushing out towards the other.  
"I'm a reporter. A crime reporter. Sometimes it gets messy"  
"So you carry a sword" Lauren finished for her, raising one eyebrow amused. Who in hell still goes around carrying medieval dangerous weapons? Isn't a gun more practical these days?  
"Sometimes. Really, it was just for fun when we bought it"  
Well, that was reassuring. Lauren couldn't picture anyone just going around town with a sword in hand as if it was nothing. Only psychopaths maybe.  
"I see. Where's Kenzi now?"  
"Off hunting down some food I guess. Blood makes her hungry"  
"Really?" Lauren stated ironically, that phrase somehow evoking the picture of a girl bow hunting in the forest.  
She moved to the other side of the bed, quickly checking the stiches with butterfly touch; still Bo winced once or twice. "It's a very deep cut. What did they give you for the pain?"  
Bo adjusted in bed, glancing at the phone on her side "They injected something before stitching it up and it went completely numb, I almost didn't feel a thing."  
Lauren nodded. "Yeah, but it's wearing off now. You'll probably feel it all in half an hour"  
"Shit!" Bo sputtered, making Lauren smirk fascinated. She took the chart and started reading it through on auto-pilot before stopping abruptly, realizing it. "Can I..?" she asked in small voice nudging at it. She knew how sensitive a person's chart could be, she had been taught to handle them attentively, and unless it was your patient or an emergency it wasn't good manners to read it without permission. Especially when you knew the person from a one night at a club. And had been oddly thinking of that same stranger from time to time since then.  
"Sure, by all means, suit yourself doctor!" she showed the words with a gesture of her good hand and smiled once again a in a flirty way, her eyes sparkling and her teeth flashing.  
Lauren had to re-focus. Last time she said she had a boyfriend, right? She was not on the market.  
She scanned the file, trying hard to look only at tonight's annotations and obviously failing, unconsciously taking note of her specifics. She was born just a little more than a year before her in some Grimley Country place. She wasn't married – yet the boyfriend was a sure thing – but her emergency contact was that Kenzi girl. They couldn't have been dating for that long or maybe it wasn't that important of a thing if he wasn't mentioned.  
Still, why was she analyzing these things?  
She shook her head putting away the chart and the temptation of going deeper.  
"So, doctor," she slurred on the title in a way that made Lauren tingle "will I survive?"  
"Definitely. But you shouldn't use your arm at all for at least a week. Here-" She turned around to search in the medicine cabinet and pulled out a hanging brace "put this on" She handed it to Bo and then helped her adjusting it so it would be the most comfortable to carry around, brushing her fingertips one time too much over her silky skin. She smelled good, of something warm and soft, something burning red but comforting.  
"Thanks"  
Lauren smiled in response, nodding once and taking a step back to breathe.  
The curtain on the opposite side of her slid open in one swift move and an intern came up, sheets in a hand and a pen in the other.  
"Miss Dennis? You have to-" he stopped mid-sentence when he rose his gaze and recognized the Doctor and immediately blushed and looked down. "Oh. Sorry Dr. Lewis, I didn't know you were.."  
"It's ok Duncan, it's a friend. I'll take it from here." He nodded silently and balanced from one foot to the other. Lauren extended her arm and he mumbled an 'oh, right' before handling her the papers and leaving.  
Bo chuckled as soon as he was out of earshot. "What was THAT! What did you do to him!"  
"Nothing!" Lauren exclaimed immediately. "I swear!"  
Bo kept laughing. "He's got a crush on you, you have to know that!"  
"You think?" she was taken aback.  
"Yes!" she assured nodding fiercely.  
"Well, he's got to live with it, I can't have any involvement with an intern, it's against hospital policy" she informed Bo while scrolling down the test results. "and anyway he wouldn't stand a chance. He's not my type" She stated.  
"Oh, he's not? Then what's your type like, Lauren?"  
Lauren blinked. Her mind was playing tricks, she could have sworn Bo was flirting with her. She must have had too little to sleep today.  
"I-" she trailed off. She actually didn't know how to respond to that; she didn't really have a type, hell, she didn't even have a genre! She just considered the whole package when it came to choosing, not single things. But she was most certain the whole package of Bo seemed to easily drew her in, more than any woman ever had. She hadn't had that many girlfriends, just some hookups from time to time and never a stable thing; nobody even knew about them, she was mostly man oriented, all her official relationships had been with men.

"Ehy Bobolicious! Here I am! Miss me?"  
A raven haired small girl came up to them swagging blatantly with an arm full of packets.  
"Oh! Ehy Doc! Hadn't seen ya! How's my succubusted friend over here?"  
She dropped her charge on Bo's legs and sunk onto the chair.  
"She's fine. Mostly" she reassured.  
The girl nodded, crossing her skinny-pants wrapped legs.  
"Cool! So can we go now? I got a mega-aged bottle of the good thing waiting for me on the couch. And I hate making my friends wait!" she popped something into her mouth and eyed her with huge eyes.  
"Kenzi..." knowing her, Bo warned her friend.  
"Well, actually..." Lauren tried to talk but the younger didn't gave her a chance.  
"oohh, c'mon doc! Don't even say it!" she whined, sinking back in the chair.  
"She apparently lost a lot of fluids, her blood work shows some very serious anemia so we would prefer to keep her overnight for observation and hopefully you'll be out first thing in the morning" she explained.  
Kenzi folded her arm and pouted mumbling "party pooper"  
Lauren furrowed her brow, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.  
Bo laughed, then scolded her. "Kenzi! Behave!" and then she turned to Lauren "Excuse her, she's just very tired and still very shocked from what happened"  
The goth was now sticking her tongue out at her. Bo shook her head in exasperation but smiled.  
"I understand, really" Lauren nicely smiled to the girl, thinking of what would it feel like to think to have possibly sliced one of your friend to death.  
"So…about that staying thing.." Bo caught the doctor's gaze and her face become more confident "..as much as I'd enjoy keeping you company all night…isn't there a way I could leave now?" she preyed.  
"Yes, there is, but you shouldn't" Lauren admitted, already knowing where this was going.  
"Please?" they both pouted.  
"I highly advise against it, you have to rest and be checked every few hours for safety." She pointed out. Then sighed "Still, you could sign a form and be discharged against medical advise, if you really want to go."  
"Then we'll do that!" Kenzi exclaimed jumping from her seat.  
"It's an unnecessary risk!" Lauren objected.  
"Lauren." Bo caught her attention resting a hand on her arm "Fact is, I really need to finish an article for tomorrow morning and all this mess didn't help at all, so I need to get out of here and get the work done tonight. You get that, right?"  
Bo's gaze was fixed with hers and it was so serious and sincere that Lauren didn't feel like she had the chance to refuse her.  
"But what if something goes wrong? Was if you pass out and there's no one to help you?" she tried one last time, seriously concerned.  
"I won't be alone, Kenzi's earned the privilege to assist me all night long when she gave me that cut! I'll be fine." She assured. "And also, my office building is just beside this hospital, I should practically only scream for you to hear" she reasoned-  
"Ok, fine." Lauren gave up. She couldn't restrain her against her will, she was just a doctor, not her mother. "Sign this and you're free" she handed her the form.  
"Yay!" Kenzi exulted starting to shove all the food in a bag.  
Bo didn't even read the paper before signing and handling it back. "Thank you, Lauren"  
"You said that already" she joked.  
"One's never too grateful. Especially with you" She winked and got up to leave.  
"Seriously though, at the slightest symptom come back here." Then she fished in her pocket and handed her a card "Or at least call me. That's my private number" Bo smiled happily at that and shoved the card safely in her jacket pocket. "I can promise you that"  
"So THAT was it all that charade for!" erupted Kenzi diving into Bo's pocket to retrieve it. "Doctor Lauren Lewis" She red "Do you do house calls regularly?"  
"Kenz!" Bo nudged her friend and smiled to Lauren. "So, 'till next time?"  
"That hopefully won't be when you're on a bed. I mean, hospital bed. I hope the circumstances of our next meeting will be happier, if we'll even ever see each other again of course." She blabbered and blushed.  
Bo smirked amused "I told you, I work on the other side of the road, we'll DEFINITELY see again. And now I have your number, remember!" she winked and then left, Kenzi on toe.  
Lauren sunk down onto the bed she had been previously in with a sigh. What poor impression had she made! Why couldn't just be cool around that woman? She made her unbelievably nervous.  
She covered her face with her hands and sighed.  
It was clear she was attracted to this Bo, but was it something she should pursue? Bo was already in a relationship, and with a man. She didn't even know if she liked diving into the softer side. Most important, she didn't know if Bo liked HER.  
She got up forcefully to stop thinking about it and ended up feeling dizzy.  
She blamed the lack of sleep for all the craziness tonight. It was just a lot she didn't get laid. That was all.  
And Bo…who knows if they'll ever even do more than say hello on the street once in a while!

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**_A/N: Thanks to everyone who has followed/favorite/reviewed or just spent their time reading this story. I really appreciate it, you can't understand how much it means to me._**

**_Once again, all the mistakes are mine.  
hope you enjoyed!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_ *I own nothing* (sadly)_

* * *

Bo never called.  
Lauren didn't know if she was more relieved that she was ok or disappointed that she hadn't called. She couldn't understand why she had been so longing to hear her voice again, even if it would only be the resounding version of a mobile line. This made her also angry with herself: how could she had thought for even a second that Bo would have indeed called her and hadn't just said it to convince her to let her go from that bed? Of course she had been only playing her to get what she wanted, nothing more. There was no way Bo could actually be interested in someone like her, she had a boyfriend already!  
Lauren shivered uncomfortably at her own thoughts.  
It had been a week already and she was still thinking about it restlessly. She had been so stupidly excited for that call that when it hadn't come it was like a punch in the gut. She had waited a couple of days, hoping for the phone to ring, checked the ER lists, even started to get her coffee at the shop on the other end of the street just to pass by what she believed being the building of Bo work quarters – assuming she hadn't lied about that too. She reasoned she just couldn't stand the hospital coffee anymore, it wasn't as if she was obsessed, it would be crazy. She just was the kind of person that needed to be in control of everything and it bugged her that that woman had so easily fooled her. She needed to confront her, that was it.  
A picture of Bo and her flirty smile came to mind and she chuckled.  
Ok, maybe it wasn't _all_ of it.  
She couldn't deny the attraction she had felt for the brunette since the first time and couldn't even say the thought of something between them hadn't crossed her mind, but one thing was to consider the possibility of some kind of even friendly relationship, another to stalker an already committed woman planning to steal her away. She wasn't that kind of person, so selfish that she wouldn't even consider the feelings of the other parties at her actions. It wasn't right. Sure, if ever they would have become friends and along the way Bo would have broken up with her boyfriend, Lauren wouldn't have backed out. Wasn't stealing if you just were there letting her know that if she would she could have an alternative, was it?  
But then, this was just stupid delusional thinking of that night she came in, now Lauren was more than convinced that it would never happen because she could never think of anything with a manipulative jerk like Bo.

Lauren had been walking for half an hour already, rain lightly pouring over her umbrella and boots splashing on the sidewalk. It was only past eleven am, yet the sky was so closed up and dark one would think of late afternoon. Lauren didn't mind though. She liked rainy day like this, at least when she had nothing else to do than cuddle up in her bed with some hot cocoa and her long beloved star trek DVD collection. Instead today she had promised Kristen to go help repainting her room. Wasn't the best day to do that.  
Lauren had decided to walk there in spite it was threatening the worst rain of the season but luckily it was just starting and she was almost arrived.  
She turned around the corner and a cold breeze invested her making her shiver and tighten even more the coat she was wearing, hoping Kristen would have thought of turning on the heater. But of course she would have, she was always cold, sometimes even in summertime.  
She reached the condo and used her keys to let herself in; she lived here once before moving closer to work and when she had moved out Casey got another rommie, Kristen, and let Lauren keep the keys for emergencies that soon became everyday occurrence with the two of them completely alone in the apartment.  
"Kris! Case! I'm here!" she called closing the door behind her and welcoming the warmth of her old home. She took off the coat and hanged it on her favorite spot before going to look for them. They weren't in the kitchen or in front of the tv as they almost always were and Casey's  
room was empty; Kristen's door was closed. She peaked in and chuckled at the sigh: there she was, crouched on the floor with her head to the corner trying – she assumed – to read the paint can. She was so focused that she didn't sense Lauren tiptoeing to her until she screamed in her hear making her jump and tumble backward on the floor losing her balance, eyes wide and disoriented.  
"What the hell dude!" she yelled annoyed covering her eyes with the arm and taking a deep breath. Lauren started to laugh at her friend lying on the floor and poked her in the ribs with her foot trying to flip her over. "stop" she scooped aside to avoid the kicks but Lauren just circled her and kicked her other side. Kris groaned and slapped her ankle, sitting up with a furious look on her face. "stop!"  
"I can't, it's not me, it's the foot, I can't control it!" laughing Lauren stuck her tongue out and jumped back to avoid another slap.  
"Yeah, sure, you did some weird experiments on it and now its only goal is to kick me and you can't stop it"  
"Exactly! I set the action potential of the calf muscles only to respond to a particular environment that presents energy with wavelength and intensity corresponding to a specific person, namely you – you know, everyone of us project a specific and peculiar energy – so now every time I'm around you should expect nothing but kicks in the butt."  
"Ok, you're the genius here but even I can tell you that _that_ is just pure science fiction" She laughed getting up and poking her back in the ribs. "I didn't hear you come in"

"What were you reading so intently?"  
"Paint instructions" she blushed, picking up the can to show to Lauren who raised an eyebrow surprised.  
"You've never painted a wall?"  
Kris shrugged "Why would have I? I had three older brother at home, remember?" she explained.  
"Yes, I remember. You were the little princess of that house!" She pouted mocking a little child.  
Kristen mouth opened in disbelief and Lauren was punched in the arm.  
"Did you came here today with a huge desire of death?" She inquired and Lauren just shrugged.  
"Where's Case?" she asked looking around the room, furniture packed in endless plastic cloths.  
"Hot date last night"  
"Seems just an excuse to avoid helping" Lauren offered.  
"Yeah, I know. Thank God I have you!" and cheerfully saying that she threw herself at her friend almost knocking her over and planted a smacking kiss to her lips. "I love you double-L"  
Lauren giggled at the honesty and childish behavior and hugged her back. "I love you too double-K"  
Kris hopped down and looked around completely lost.  
"Do you seriously don't know how to paint?"  
"Nothing but the truth leaves my lips" she declaimed and flashed another smile.  
Lauren shook her head with a smile and squinted the room. "Do you have a brush somewhere?"  
"I have a paint roll too!" she responded proudly jumping behind the closet to retrieve it and handing it to Lauren.  
"Wow, you're excited" she commented smiling.  
"I am! How do I use it?" she urged  
"Well, you first have to drench it in the paint and then roll it on the wall"  
"Seems easy"  
"not when you have to do it for hours, trust me. You have to push it hard against the wall to guarantee a perfect adhesion, up and down, and then above that you have to do it again left and right to make the paint uniform" she explained.  
"You mean I have to do it twice?" She pointed disappointed.  
"Yes. That is if you want to do a decent job and then if you want to do it even better you can give it another coat when it's dry." She picked up the paint can and looked for a square low bucket. "And have you checked that the wall is plain? Because otherwise we need to plaster it beforehand and fill all the scratch and depressions and then-"  
"Lau, slow down, this isn't a construction company" Kris stopped her before she could explain all the process of building a house.  
"I know, I was just saying that if you want to repaint properly then there are certain things you should pay attention to"  
"I just want to change the color of my room!" she exclaimed exasperated rolling her eyes "and I don't have the whole year to do it, so we better get started!"  
"Ok" Lauren responded deflated and poured a little paint in the bucket pushing it toward the other woman with a thrust of her foot. "Here you go! Start from a corner while I change"  
"Will do sergeant" she did the military gesture and picked up the roll, soaking it like Lauren had said and then rolling it up and down the wall.  
Lauren watched for a minute to check she understood and then went to Casey's dresser to pick the sweatpants and t-shirt she left for when she spend the night here; she put them on after kicking off her shoes and then tied her hair back in a ponytail before coming back into the room.  
"Where's the brush?"  
"In that bag over there." She turned a little and pointed to the corner. Lauren smirked, noticing that she was already covered in paint everywhere.  
She picked it up and soaked it halfway before starting to work on the opposite wall with the ladder. The paint roll was very comfortable and easy to use because it had the stick for the top wall but she liked the brush the most even if it meant a lot more work because in the end the result was always better with the brush. She hadn't had it in her to tell that to Kris, she had been so excited about the Roll and anyway it didn't change that much considering this wasn't a professional work.  
She smiled, turning around to glance at the younger woman who had now stopped. Lauren furrowed her brows and Kris just walked to the other side of the room and turned on the radio, winking. Lauren nodded, giving her a thumb up and turning back to work.  
Kris had the same age as Casey, they had some class together back in college and when Casey needed a roommate Kris jumped at the opportunity to leave the annoying grumpy ex roomie.  
As time passed, with every time than Lauren had to run here to ward off the impending apocalypse they had bonded pretty well and had now a very strong relationship that was based on trust and mutual benefits: Kris always made Lauren's mood lighter with her childish innocence and Lauren was there any time Kris needed something because she absolutely couldn't manage her own. She teased calling her 'spoiled' and in return Lauren had now the permanently epithet of 'mom' and weird enough it did not bother her.

After almost three hours of hard work they had finally finished.  
"I'm hungry!" Kris wined throwing the roll away and crashing down on the floor.  
Smiling, Lauren covered her last spot and then joined her, both lying exhausted in the middle of a mess. Kris's face was completely blue from the paint now, her clothes not getting it any better.  
"You'll have to trash those" Lauren pointed them, getting up to go to the bathroom while Kris stayed there, covered in paint and sweat, almost falling asleep by the time she came back with a wet cloth. "Come here" she said kneeling down beside her and starting to gently clean her face.  
"I didn't thought it would be so tiring!"  
"Told you! But look at the result! You now have a brightly new room!"  
"Yes! It's amazing! Thank you Lau!" Kris sat up abruptly and hugged Lauren as best as she could.  
"You're welcome kid" she chuckled.  
They both got up and started freeing the floor of the hundreds newspaper that covered it for precaution against the splattering. They cleaned in silence, until Kris had a beautiful idea of hers.  
"I was thinking…maybe I should change color every season! That would be fun, right?"  
Lauren glared at her in disbelief.  
"Are you kidding?"  
"No. I mean, it didn't seem that hard after all and it's better than a day at the gym, that's sure. And then, considering you're good at it and do most of the work, it won't take more than a day every time! Btw, did you do this kind of things when you were a kid? If that so it would explain all those muscles you've got! And if I do that once in a while maybe'll be good for me too!"  
Lauren simply let her talk knowing pretty well that this excitement would fade quickly. And if not…well, she didn't mind a little work out.  
"How about I go cook us something to regain our strength and then we can go out while it dries and get some fresh air?" she proposed, forgetting the bad weather outside.  
"Ok! But I think I'll need a shower. How come you are almost completely clean? What superpower do you have, girl!"  
"Shut up, you're just worst than a kid!" she yelled over her back on her way to the kitchen. "And open the windows in there and close the door on your way out, we wouldn't risk any intoxication due to the fumes!"  
"Yes mom!"

Later on, both girls showered and fed, they had decided to go wandering around the city with the car under the rain. It wasn't that bad really, better anyway than being locked home with a massive headache due to paint exhalations. Thanks to rain and desert streets they were granted permission to turn up the radio until the windows trembled at the music and they could sing along believing to get the lyrics right even if they totally weren't.  
"LL! I need some boooze!" she yelled above the loud thumps of the music.  
Lauren laughed heartedly, turning the volume down and checking the road in front of them.  
"Trust me, you already look pretty bombed! You sure you didn't sniff anything behind my back?"  
"Nothing but the paint, I swear! I kind of liked it though"  
"Me too"  
Lauren remembered when she was a kid and her father used to paint a room of the house periodically and she liked sitting behind the closed door with a book, smelling that familiar scent and hearing her father whistle.  
"You think Casey's back home by now?" she asked turning on the main street.  
"Hope so, she has a lot of apologies to do in her next future!" they both laughed thinking at how bad they would make her pay.  
"Are you staying with us tonight?"  
"I don't know, I-" she was going to say that she would have loved to but was interrupted by a phone ringing.  
"I think it's yours" Kris said holding hers.  
"Could you, please?" she asked since she was driving and the phone was in the right pocket of her coat, now crumpled on the backseat.  
Kris nodded stretching in the back until the ringing become louder and then stopped.  
"Hello?" she answered jumping back on her seat. "Oh, yes, yes it is. Who is this?" her features wrinkled listening to the other end. It must have been the hospital, there wasn't anyone in her calling list that Kris wouldn't know.  
Lauren listened curiously, pulling over to take the phone and slapping Kris's hand that was trying to undo the seatbelt. She made a face and handed the device over. "T's for you, mom"  
"you don't say!" she replied sarcastically under her breath before bringing her phone to her ear. "Doctor Lewis speaking"  
_"Hello Doctor"_  
Lauren jumped in her seat shocked by the voice that answered back.  
"Bo?"

* * *

_**A/N: This story is taking a completely different course compared to what I had first in mind and I don't know if it's better this way or the other. I don't really know anything anymore about this story, I just hope you're enjoyng reading it more than I am creating it in a way and then ending up writing another. It's driving me insane.  
Thank you all again for the every feedback. I love it!**_


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